


Gertrude's First Christmas

by jaguarspot



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F, Gen, i love that Gertrude is an actual supergirl tag
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-22
Updated: 2018-12-22
Packaged: 2019-09-24 15:55:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,253
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17103578
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jaguarspot/pseuds/jaguarspot
Summary: Alex and Maggie have been married for a few months. Now it's time for their little family to start growing.





	Gertrude's First Christmas

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Lurkz](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lurkz/gifts).



> Huge thanks to DontBeJelly and Jesi_Ki_Kage for reading over this for me!
> 
> Happy Holidays, Lurkz! :)

**DECEMBER 21ST**

 

Maggie woke up with a jolt when Alex jumped on the bed. “Wake up Mags! It’s Christmas!”

Maggie chuckled at Alex’s excitement, then glanced at the clock on the wall. 6:55 am.

Maggie groaned as she covered her face with a pillow. “No, it’s not. Are you going to wake me up this early every day until Christmas? We took the week off for a reason.”

“Nope,” Alex smirked, “just today. I promise. And you know why?”

Maggie removed the pillow and cracked an eye open so she could look up at Alex in confusion.

Alex pouted, “Did you forget what today is?”

“Uh… Friday?”

“Maggie! You just said it yourself, we took an entire week off to make sure we did this right.”

Maggie groaned again, “It’s way too early for this. You can’t expect me to-” Maggie’s eyes shot open and she suddenly sat up, “the puppy!”

Alex beamed at her, and Maggie beamed back, “Alex, we’re getting a puppy today!”

Alex nodded enthusiastically and leaned forward to kiss her, only to find Maggie already jumping out of bed and starting to get dressed. “What are you waiting for? If we leave right now we may be able to beat morning rush hour and get to the shelter just as they open!”

Alex rolled her eyes, but couldn’t hide a smile at her wife’s excitement.

In what seemed like no time at all, both of them were dressed and in the car, driving to the shelter that had finally declared their latest litter of puppies old enough to be put out for adoption.

“So…” Alex started almost as soon as Maggie pulled out of their parking spot.

“We are not naming them Gertrude.”

“But Mags!”

“Nope. Not happening.”

“Why not?”

“For starters, we haven’t even picked a pup yet. What if we get a boy puppy?”

“Easy. We name him Pavlov.”

Maggie almost pulled over right then and there. “Are you _trying_ to get our pup bullied by every other dog around?”

“And if we ever get a cat,” Alex continued like Maggie hadn’t said anything, “we’re naming it Schröedinger and getting it a box full of fluffy blankets instead of a bed.”

Maggie rolled her eyes at Alex, only her small grin showing her amusement. “A nerd. I married a total nerd.”

“Says the girl who named both her favorite gun _and_ her favorite leather jacket.”

“You leave those two out of this. It’s not my fault you haven’t been able to think of a name for your alien gun after all this time.”

“I mean, I’ve been considering ‘Curie’, you know, after-”

“If,” Maggie cut her off, “if we ever have kids, you better be ready for me to name all of them.”

Alex opened her mouth to argue, then thought better of it, “Yeah, I guess that’s fair.”

Maggie smiled. After a glance at the red traffic light above their car, she leaned over and kissed her wife.

~*~

An hour later, both of them were sitting on the floor of the shelter, half a dozen puppies crawling all over them. It had taken over twenty minutes to convince each other not to adopt all six of the pups. Fifteen more minutes to decide which of the small belgian shepherds they were taking home. The rest of the time they had spent back at the old argument.

“How about Spot?”

“She looks like a Gertrude though.”

“Okay, how about Buster?”

“We could call her Gertie for short.”

“Lassie? She looks like a Lassie.”

“Or I guess we could also call her Trudy, although I don’t like that one as much.”

“Alex..."

“No, that’s my name.”

_“Alex!”_

“How are you guys doing?” Alex and Maggie looked up to see one of the shelter’s volunteers had come to check on them. “Do you need some more time with them?”

“Oh, uh, no. We picked one already. We were just trying to agree on a name.”

“Oh, well, of course you can name your dog anything you like, but if you’re having trouble, all of these pups already have names. Do you want to hear what your dog’s name already is? That way if you like it, you don’t have to change it.”

Maggie turned hopeful eyes at Alex, who just shrugged and said, “Sure, let’s hear it. We picked this one. What’s her name?”

“Oh, that little girl? Her name’s Pizza.”

Both of them froze, taking exactly 1.7 seconds to wonder what Kara’s reaction would be to that.

“Actually,” Maggie jumped in before Alex could say anything, “we were thinking she looks more like a Gertrude.”

Alex’s blinding smile and eager nod were enough for the volunteer, who started rounding up the other pups so Alex and Maggie could go sign the last of the paperwork. As they did, Maggie looked to her wife and saw her smiling nonstop, as the pup- as Gertrude kept trying to lick her face.

Maggie laughed and went back to her paperwork.

They would be okay. She had a good feeling about this.

 

**DECEMBER 22TH**

 

A deafening crash rang through the apartment, followed by a shrill whine. Alex and Maggie jumped out of bed, grabbing whatever they could find on their bedside tables as weapons while they tried to figure out what was going on. Another whine sent them running out of their room and into the living room.

Alex’s hand shot out, stopping Maggie from taking another step. Both of them looked down at the floor covered in shards of the ornaments that’d been on the tree.

The tree which was also on the floor, still tangled in Christmas lights (thankfully unplugged before they went to bed every night) and surrounded by a mess of broken plastic, tree needles, and the water that’d been in the tree’s base.

In the middle of the mess, Gertrude was hiding under the coffee table, tail firmly tucked between her legs.

After exchanging a glance, Alex carefully headed for Gertrude, while Maggie went back into their room to get them both slippers.

As she turned on the light to search through the closet, Maggie glanced up at the clock and sighed. 6:01 am.

Yawning, Maggie walked back into the living room and handed Alex a pair of slippers. Alex took them with one hand while she settled Gert on her other arm.

Slippers on, Alex took Gert into their room to check her up as Maggie righted the tree and found a broom.

A few minutes later, Alex walked out of the room and locked Gertrude up in her crate. The pup immediately started complaining about it.

“Is she okay?”

“Yeah, not a scratch on her. She was just scared.” Alex looked at the mess around them, “I guess no more Christmas tree until we’ve had the chance to train her a little.”

“We could-”

She was cut off by the loudest whine so far, followed by a shrill howl and a storm of barking.

“...It’s also probably not a bad time to start her on crate training”

“Yeah… yeah I guess.”

“Maggie? You okay?”

“She sounds so sad, Alex!”

As if to prove a point, Gertrude started whimpering loudly. Maggie’s eyes widened. “Oh no, now she’s scared!”

She started to head for the crate, but Alex’s hand on her arm stopped her.

“Maggie.”

Maggie was surprised at the amused tone in Alex’s voice. “What? And what’s with that look?”

“Oh nothing. It’s just we were both so sure I was going to be the whipped parent in the relationship.”

“I’m not whipped!” Maggie’s almost offended look melted away at Gertie’s next howl.

“Maggie…” Alex said in a half stern, half amused tone.

“But-!”

“Nope. We have to at least clean up the place first.”

Maggie looked around the living room, which was still a mess of ornaments and twigs and lines of Christmas lights. “Fine,” she said as she picked up the broom and tried to ignore the barking and whining, “but after we’re done, we are taking her for a LONG walk around the dog park.”

Alex smiled at her and leaned closer. “That,” she said before placing a small kiss on Maggie’s lips, “sounds perfect.”

 

**DECEMBER 23TH**

 

“Maggie.”

“Mmmpf”

“Maggie wake up.”

“Hmm?”

“Maggie. Maggie look at her!”

“Hmm?”

Alex’s hand starts shaking her shoulder, “wake up Mags, you gotta see this!”

“I’m up, I’m up,” Maggie mumbles, pushing Alex’s hand away from her shoulder.

She glances at the clock. She groans. 5:47 am.

Sitting up slowly, Maggie leans against Alex, blinking wearily around the room. “What am I looking at?”

Alex merely points.

Gertrude is on her little bed, curled up in a little ball and staring back at them. Her tail starts wagging when she sees them both looking at her.

“Do you think she’s cold?”

“What?”

“She’s all curled up. Maybe she’s cold.”

“Danvers, she’s a dog. That’s how dogs sleep.”

“Should we let her sleep in the bed?”

“What? No! Why?”

“If she sleeps up here with us, she won’t get cold.”

“Danvers, no. If you really think she’s cold, we can buy her a blanket. But we can’t let her on the bed. If we do, we’ll never get her to sleep back on her own bed. Besides, look at her! She’s two months old and already the size of a beagle. She’s gonna be huge when she grows up.”

“That sounds like the opposite of a problem.”

“Danvers!”

“What!?”

“I thought I was the whipped parent here.”

“I’m not whipped!”

Maggie was saved from having to answer that by the ringing of Alex’s phone. A quick glance to the screen tells them both it’s Kara calling.

“Are you okay Kara? Why are you calling so early?”

_“Everything’s okay, I just heard you were both awake and wanted to know when I can come over to meet the puppy.”_

“Kara-”

“ _Three days Alex! I can’t believe you’ve had a puppy for three days and I haven’t met her yet.”_

“It’s pretty early,” Alex said ignoring Maggie’s quiet muttering about the early hour, “you can always swing by before work.”

_“No! I want to properly meet her. Let’s have a movie night! I’ll head over there today as soon as I get out of work.”_

“Kara- Kara?” Alex rolled her eyes and turned to talk to Maggie, “Kara says-”

“Yeah, I heard.” Maggie picked Gertrude up and placed her on her lap. “Did you hear that girl? You’re meeting auntie Kara today!”

Alex laughed at that. While Maggie was busy playing with the puppy, she managed to take a picture of the two of them and sent it to Kara.

Normally, even Alex had a little trouble understanding Kara’s long strings of emojis, but this time, she had to admit she fully agreed with the two dozen hearteyes Kara sent.

~*~

True to her word, Kara showed up that afternoon with her usual order of three pizzas, two bags of potstickers, and a gallon of ice cream for each of them that she’d end up eating when Alex and Maggie declared they’d had enough ice cream.

After spending the better part of an hour cooing over the puppy and taking almost as many pictures as Alex and Maggie had in three days, Kara’s stomach finally reminded them that dinner was there and it was supposed to be movie night.

As soon as they picked a movie and Kara reheated everything with a quick burst of laser vision, they all settled down on the couch and started eating.

It became obvious pretty quick that Gertrude’s presence was going to change things a little bit.

“No! Bad girl, this is MY pizza!” Kara wagged a stern finger at Gertrude. Gertie stared at her finger for a moment before going for the pizza box again.

“No!” Kara said again, before levitating herself and her pizza out of reach. With a laugh, Maggie reached for Gertie and placed her in her lap.

Kara gave them a suspicious look, but she floated back down to the couch. Maggie tried to get her attention back to the movie, but had to stop Gertie from trying to steal the pizza again. With a huff, Kara got to her feet and lifted the cushion she had been sitting on. Then, she put the pizza box down, replaced the cushion on top of it, and sat back down, throwing Gertie a smug look and crossing her arms.

Maggie rolled her eyes at the theatrics, “You better not get any pizza grease on our couch.”

“Relax Maggie, we both know I’ll eat that pizza before the movie is over.”

Gertie suddenly yipped, jumped out of Maggie’s lap and ran straight for Alex, pawing at her and trying to lick her face. There was an incredibly guilty look in Alex's eyes as she tried to fend the puppy off. Kara frowned at them and looked around. Her eyes landed on the coffee table and she gasped loudly.

“Alexandra Danvers! Are you eating my potstickers?”

Alex’s eyes widened and she shook her head rapidly.

Gert sniffed at her suspiciously puffed up cheeks. She tilted her head in a way that immediately reminded Alex of Maggie. Then Gertrude sat back and barked. That was all the confirmation Kara needed.

“Aleeex! Those are mine!” She started throwing pillows at Alex. Alex covered her face and started returning fire. Gertrude jumped up and down, barking at both of them and trying to catch one of the pillows being thrown around.

Then Alex took off running, Kara started chasing her and an all-out pillow fight broke out, with both Danvers having to dodge around the puppy who was trying to chase them both.

Maggie watched all this from the comfort of the couch, pausing the movie and cheering on her three favorite girls.

Her wife, their dog, and Alex’s alien sister.

 

**DECEMBER 24TH**

 

_“Maggie!”_

At her wife’s frantic yell, Maggie jumps off the bed before she can even register what is happening. Grabbing an empty glass from her bedside table as a weapon, she runs full tilt into the living room, prepared for anything from armed robbers to a vengeful alien.

What she wasn’t expecting was to see Alex kneeling by the coffee table, trying to pry something out of Gertrude’s mouth.

When Maggie gets closer she can see that Gert seems to have a piece of cardboard in her mouth. It almost looks like… “Is that a pizza box?”

“Yeah,” Alex says angrily. Then she points to something on the couch. Maggie’s stomach drops when she sees the overturned cushion and recognizes Kara’s stashed pizza from the night before.

“Did she-”

“Eat an entire pizza and half its box? I think so.”

Maggie swears under her breath. Alex manages to retrieve the piece of cardboard in Gertie’s mouth and goes to throw it and the rest of the box away. Maggie kneels in front of Gertie and stretches her hand out. Gertie sniffs her hand but makes no move to get up from where she’s lying.

“Gertie? Come here girl!” Maggie tries to coax her.

Gertie doesn’t move.

Maggie’s heart sinks. “Gert? Gertrude come on. You wanna go for a walk? Let’s go for a walk!” She tries again.

Gertrude just looks back at her, then shifts so she’s lying on her side instead of her stomach.

Maggie carefully picked her up and stood just as Alex was coming back into the room.

“How is she?”

“I think she’s sick. She’s barely moving, Alex!”

“Give her to me, and go get a coat.”

That’s when Maggie realized Alex was already dressed for going out into National City’s predawn winter.

Maggie ran into their room and got dressed as fast as she could. On her way out, she looked at the time and cursed. 5:29 am.

“It’s Christmas Eve! Where are we even going to find a vet in Christmas Eve before the sun is even up?”

Alex gets a glint in her eye that Maggie knows means she has an idea. “Take the dog, give me the keys.”

Maggie wordlessly complies and runs after Alex. Once in the car she can’t help saying, “you know I love you babe, but I’m gonna kick your sister’s butt the next time I see her.”

“Get in line,” Alex mutters as she peels out of the parking lot.

“Where are we going?”

“To Vasquez’s place. Their wife is a veterinarian. She’ll be able to help Gertie.”

Maggie nodded, “We are gonna owe them both so many favors.”

“Yup.”

“It’s worth it though.”

“Yup.” With that, Alex gets to the street and floors the gas pedal.

~*~

“Thank you both So Much!” Alex repeated for what felt like the millionth time as they walked out of Vasquez’s house four hours later, Gert happily trotting along on a leash. “We owe you big time. Anything you need, just let us know.”

“It was no trouble at all. She’s a lovely dog,” Erin said, smiling.

“And she’s going to be okay?” Maggie asked.

“She’s going to be fine. Just keep her on a strict kibble diet for a few days and keep an eye on her for the rest of the week,” Erin said.

“You heard that, girl? You’re going to be okay!” Maggie said to Gertie, who just looked up at her and wagged her tail.

“Seriously, thank you again for-”

“We get it Danvers, it’s fine, now get OUT so I can get back to spending Christmas Eve with my wife.” Vasquez said, drawing laughs from Erin and Maggie, and a blush from Alex.

“I’ll help you train the next rookie class,” Alex proposed.

“You mean you'll help me scare the next rookie class. I'll take it. BYE." They shoved Alex towards the car.

Maggie and Gertrude got inside. Then Alex climbed into the driver’s seat and tried again, “Thank-” Vasquez shut the car’s door and mock-glared at Alex.

With a good natured eyeroll, Alex started the car and they left.

Alex is still rolling her eyes when Maggie’s muttering in the backseat gets her attention and brings a smile to her lips.

“-and then we're gonna get revenge on stupid Auntie Kara by making her buy you all the doggie toys for Christmas. ALL of them. She’ll buy you a Supergirl-sized amount of toys, and as soon as you can have treats again, she’s gonna get you treats too, yes she is-”

Alex chuckled and focused back on the road. It was time to take their family home.

 

**DECEMBER 25TH**

 

A ray of sunlight touches Maggie’s face, warm and welcome after what had been a slightly chilly night.

She raises her arms above herself, happily stretching out and feeling more rested than she has in weeks. Opening her eyes, Maggie peeks at the clock on the bedside table.

11:27 am.

Curious, Maggie props herself up on her arm to look around.

She smiles.

Alex is on her back, sound asleep, with a hand draped over Maggie’s hip. Her other arm is resting on top of Gertrude, who’s lying on Alex’s stomach, also asleep.

Carefully, Maggie reaches for her phone and snaps a picture of them. Moment captured, she puts her phone back on the table and rolls over so she’s facing Alex and Gert. She settles back down on the bed as she places a kiss on Alex’s forehead and lays her hand on Gertrude’s back.

Maggie figures she can let her girls sleep in for a little longer.

After all, it’s Christmas.


End file.
